One is his wife, Tami, and two children, Matilde and Jose Jr, based in the family home in Knightsbridge.

The other are his irmãos (brothers), Rui Faria and Silvino Louro, who he sees more than his actual family these days as he maintains his extended stay at the Lowry Hotel.

Those friendships, those heated discussions, date back more than 15 years and have shaped Mourinho as much as they have shaped his acolytes.

Jose Morais, who worked with Mourinho at Benfica, Inter Milan, Real Madrid and in his second spell at Chelsea, is one of only a handful of coaches and analysts to enter that inner circle.

And he knows exactly why a select few follow him wherever he goes.

"He has a kind of magic. He knows how to take care of his family and his coaching staff," Mourinho's former opposition scout and assistant coach told MEN Sport. "You follow him as part of his family. This is the way I feel and this is the way I believe that others also feel.

Morais went on to work with Mourinho and Faria at Chelsea

"He knows when to speak to you. He has a kind of instinct, an intuition. This is what I really admire. He knows when you need him and then he knows when you don't need him.

"In life, sometimes, people need friends to touch them in a certain way. One day to come and give you a hug and an arm around your shoulder and say, 'How is it going?' Or, sometimes, just to come and say, 'C'mon! You need to give more!'

"I never saw someone else with this kind of intuition, that kind of feeling."

Morais first met Mourinho when he landed his first managerial role at Benfica back in 2000 while Morais was coaching the club's reserves.

Although Mourinho's reign lasted just 76 days, Morais admits that 'probably in the subconscious I knew one day we were supposed to work together again'.

That day arrived eight years later at Inter Milan ahead of Andre Villas-Boas' departure as the club's opposition scout in September, 2008.

Morais worked on the training ground and behind the scenes for Mourinho

And, although he was managing Tunisian giants Espérance at the time, Morais did not need a second invitation.

"When I was in Tunisia, he was already in Inter Milan and this was the moment he called me to say, 'Look I have 1,000 other coaches who want to work with me but I want you to come and work with me,'" he said.

"It was very special because it was a big episode for me because we were already in contact sharing things and I said, 'If you're calling me to go, obviously, my bag is already packed behind the door!'"

Mourinho then took over at Real Madrid, 'breaking the hegemony of Barcelona' in Morais' words, before returning to Chelsea.

Again, Morais, Faria and Louro followed him and while Mourinho again led Chelsea to title glory, in his second season back at Stamford Bridge, something went terribly wrong in his third season.

After losing nine of their first 16 league games of the season, Mourinho was unceremoniously sacked just hours after the squad's Christmas dinner, with his side languishing in 16th place.

Read More

"We do everything for things to happen and for success to happen and this is what he does normally and you move on for that," he sighs.

Morais probably would have followed Mourinho to United, but he was managing Antalyaspor at the time as he looked to carve out his own name in the dugout.

The 52-year-old remains in contact with Mourinho, though, and maintains he is still the same person he met way back in 2000 - both on and off the field.

"What I feel is that he has a higher knowledge and this knowledge makes me see someone that has things in control. A certain piece of mind, a certain tranquility," he added.

"You feel he is sweating, breathing it. It's something you can breathe. I can breathe this tranquility. I can breathe a peace of mind. In life you develop a calm way for you to become a person that exhales this aura."